I agree with your post ShyTorque, particularly that first part; a friend of mine has a daughter who was offered a job as a trainee pilot with DragonAir (?). She elected not to follow that career.
As for the wings, I think this was alluded to in an earlier post in that it needs to be brought to the attention of the MOD police.
It was clear in the Army Act 1955 but it appears that this has been superseded by the Armed Forces Act 2006 but I am finding it difficult to identify the specific offence if it has been changed or reworded.
The Army Act (1955) makes it illegal to impersonate a member of the armed forces. The act makes wearing any military decoration, badge or other insignia without authority a criminal offence. The idea is, that by wearing them, you are deceiving people into thinking you are someone that you are not. This has been done by people trying to collect for bogus charities, or to get sympathy.
I quite like this online snippet I found and I believe the latter underlined part has a good deal of relevance:
But it is more than a legal issue, respect comes into it too. Surely anyone with any sense will feel that to wear something that you haven’t earned is disrespectful to the people who have earnt it. The same goes for things such as Parachute Wings and Commando Daggers – if you didn’t earn them, don’t wear them. If you feel the need to lie to people and pretend to be something that you’re not, then maybe it might be an idea to go and have a chat with your doctor and see if they can refer you for professional help.
source : https://dalyhistory.wordpress.com/20...earned-medals/
We know for certain that a legally tested offence does exist because in 2010 Roger Day was successfully prosecuted.
source: BBC News - Is it illegal to wear medals you weren't awarded?